Pikin – Great guide for beginners

This week I finally launched the new Character Creation Guide website. I have been working on this website for a while now. After working on three feature films last year I finally found some time to focus on my tutorial website. I am working on the first tutorials that I will launch on this website. In these tutorials I will create my little Chick character Pikin. This tutorial bundle is the perfect guide for beginners.

Modeling

For this tutorial I will model the Pikin character using Maya and the build in modeling tool set. This tool set is very powerful and easy to learn. I will show you all the tools and how you can use them to model your 3D character.

Rigging

In the rigging part of this tutorial I will show you how to create a simple yet effective cartoony rig. Don’t worry if you are not very technical. I will guide you step by step and I’ll try to use as little scripts as possible. I am a dyslectic artist and for me rigging was always a bit scary. But I am so happy that I learned how to create rigs for my characters. It is so much fun to be able to pose and animate your 3D models.

Animation

I have a really cool idea for an animation with the Pikin character. It will be a combination between 2D and 3D animation using the software TV Paint and Maya. I will show you both techniques and I’ll show you how I will combine the two in the end. I will start this tutorial with creating thumbnails and story boarding my shot. And then I will take you trough the process of animating the character using TV Paint and Maya.

Software

In these tutorials I will show you how I create a 3D animation character. I will model him in 3D, create uv maps and textures, I will build a rig and animate him.

Autodesk Maya

The main software I use is Autodesk Maya. It is a very difficult and expensive program but it is the industry standard. Almost all the studio’s I have worked for work with Maya. That is why it is good to learn using Maya if you want to work in studios as a character artist.

But don't worry, I will guide you step by step and show you all the hotkeys and shortcuts to make it easier for you.

If you are a student you can download a student version of Maya. This is a full version but you will get a water mark in your screen. But it is a perfect way to learn maya without having to pay a lot of money

If you are not a student that you can also try Maya lite. This is a simpler version of Maya that is mostly used by game developers. There are some features missing but you can model and animate. This version is a lot cheaper. I will make a comparison with this version and the full version soon, and I will update you on my findings.

Visit the Autodesk website here:

3D Coat

For the Uv mapping part of the tutorial I will show you two ways of working. I will show you how to unwrap your 3D model using Maya and 3D Coat. I will show you the way to do it in Maya in case you don’t have 3D Coat or cant afford it. But I do want to show you how to do it in 3D Coat because it is such a easy and quick way. I learned this technique recently myself but it already saved me so much time.

Visit the 3D Coat website here:

TV Paint

This is the best 2D traditional painting software that is out there at the moment. I worked with TV paint on the production of Trippel Trappel and I use it for all my 2D animations. Again, TV paint isn’t cheap. There are a lot of other 2D programs you could use instead of TV Paint. the principles are the same. But if you have the money and if you want to make 2D animations than I really recommend TV Paint.

Visit the TVPaint website here:

Great Guide for beginners!

So if you wish to learn how to create and animate 3D character. Then this is the perfect guide for you! I will guide you step by step with easy to follow tutorials. You can join a closed Facebook group where I will help you if you have difficulty’s.

Pre-order this tutorial bundle now with a Early Bird Discount. The regular price is 38 Euros but if you pre-order this tutorial you can get it for only 20 Euro. The bundle will be released at the end of march.

With tips and tricks to make your portfolio/Demo Reel better!

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About The Author

Nanda van Dijk is a Character artist with over 8 years of experience working on games, commercials and feature films. She graduated in 2010 from the Utrecht School of Arts and finished the 3D Character program at Animschool in 2014. Her specialty is 3D Character animation but she has also worked as a 2D animator, Illustrator, Modeler, Rigger and Story Artist. Nanda has worked on 5 European Feature films, The Little Vampire, Hodja fra Pjort, Den Utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære, Tripple Trappel and Heinz the movie (will be released in 2018)
Now she gives courses in Animation and Rigging at the Film Academy in Amsterdam and she creates tutorials for her website the Character Creation Guide about how you can design, model, rig and animate characters for animation.